Sectarian Divisions Research Articles

A Comparative Analysis of China’s Relations with Lebanon and Syria

Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (prc), Beijing’s position in the Middle East has undergone important changes. Its influence in the region has grown in recent years in relation to its Belt-Road Initiative (bri). The instability of the region represents a constant challenge for China as some countries have to deal with sectarian divisions and complex political situations. Lebanon and Syria are also two countries constituted of complex domestic situations. This paper covers the evolution of China’s relations with both countries since 1949 with a comparative analysis. It demonstrates the similar approach of Beijing in its relations with Syria and Lebanon. Its relations with both countries have been punctuated by ups and downs, but mutual collaboration have increased recently due to their geostrategic position for the bri and their needs regarding infrastructures. The role of influential states in the region is taken into consideration for a better understanding of China’s position. It describes the non-intervention policy of Beijing. This paper analyzes that even if China’s relations and investments with Syria and Lebanon are set to increase in the upcoming years, Beijing will most likely remain patient and prudent regarding both countries.

Irish Churches and Reconciliation: Breaking the Bondage of the Past

Irish Churches and Reconciliation: Breaking the Bondage of the Past Fergus O’Ferrall Bear in mind these dead: I can find no plainer words … The careful words of my injunction are unrhetorical, as neutral and unaligned as any I know: they propose no more than thoughtful response.1 John Hewitt The current situation The continuing grave and unresolved situation on the island of Ireland calls all who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour to a costly ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18).Twenty years after the BelfastAgreement, reached on Good Friday, 10 April 1998, there remains a clear sectarian division in Northern Ireland – with largely Catholics on one side and largely Protestants on the other. This division is reflected in voting patterns for both Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), as well as for some other political parties. The result is stalemate in the governance of Northern Ireland, this continues to alienate many people from politics and to increase acrimony in public life. A further consequence is a lack of democratic decision-making across a whole range of matters vital to the wellbeing of the people living in Northern Ireland. The Brexit process now underway, resulting from the 2016 Referendum in the United Kingdom, has compounded an already very difficult and fraught context in Ireland in respect of the principles, values and hopes embodied in the 1998 Belfast Agreement, further elaborated in the 2006 St Andrews Agreement and in the 2014 Stormont House Agreement. Brexit, a unilateral decision by the United Kingdom, presents a very serious threat to the economic life of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The British-Irish Agreement that is based upon the Belfast Agreement, and which is an internationally recognised treaty, was made by Fergus O’Ferrall Studies • volume 108 • number 431 244 Studies_layout_AUTUMN-2019.indd 12 21/08/2019 09:14 ‘partners in the European Union’: this partnership facilitated and supported the historic Belfast Agreement as endorsed by referenda in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland. Brexit has the potential to do a great deal of further damage and harm to all the people on this island. The legacy of the decades of violence from 1968 to 1998, and indeed later, remains unaddressed: a population of about 1.7 million has an estimated thirty per cent of people living in Northern Ireland who were directly affected – 3,720 were killed between 1969 and 2006 and about 500,000 who were bereaved, injured or suffered in other ways. The extent of the pain, trauma, anger and victimhood which lies barely under the surface of everyday life in Northern Ireland must be acknowledged: dealing with this legacy remains a core concern for those who desire a better future for everyone in the North. The hurt and trauma continues to require great pastoral concern from the churches. There is at present yet another consultation underway initiated by the Northern Ireland Office on possible structures to deal more effectively with the legacy issues of the conflict and we await decisions in respect of this initiative. Reconciliation: a challenge for the churches The history of Irish Christianity, in all of its denominational expressions, has resulted in a deeply embedded sectarianism, which has greatly contributed to the formation of our political identities. So, as we explore reconciliation in Ireland, we must address how the Churches have fostered sectarian attitudes since the Reformation. Sectarianism has been given a working definition as ‘a complex of attitudes, beliefs, behaviours and structures in which religion is a significant component and which (i) directly, or indirectly, infringes the rights of individuals or groups and/or (ii) influences or causes situations of destructive conflict’.2 The Irish Church is not exceptional in a world context in being associated with violence, extremism and bigotry. In the twentieth century it was often assumed that religion would become ever more marginal to political life and to conflicts. Research, however, such as The Future of World Religions Report,3 shows an increasing religious affiliation accompanied by a repoliticisation of religion: this includes a rise of religious fundamentalism across all the major world religions giving rise to conflict and violence. It is...

Receptivity to dating and marriage across the religious divide in Northern Ireland: The role of intergroup contact

AbstractIntergroup contact has long been recognized as an important factor in promoting positive intergroup attitudes. However, in operationalizing intergroup attitudes, previous studies have rarely investigated attitudes toward one of the most intimate forms of contact, romantic relationships. In this study (N = 176), we expand the intergroup contact literature to examine the association between intergroup contact and, arguably, a litmus test of intergroup attitudes: receptivity to intergroup romance. We do so in Northern Ireland, a context that is historically and presently characterized by sectarian division and tension between Catholics and Protestants. Our findings reveal that intergroup contact is positively associated with receptivity to both dating and marrying an outgroup member. These associations are mediated by ingroup norms toward outgroup romances. General outgroup attitudes were also found to be positively associated with contact but, in contrast to romantic attitudes, this association was shown, for the first time, to be simultaneously mediated by ingroup norms, anxiety, empathy, and trust. In addition, strength of ingroup identification played a moderating role, with a stronger positive relationship between contact and both romantic and general outgroup attitudes among higher identifiers. The findings highlight the importance of examining attitudes toward intergroup romantic relationships, as well as understanding the different mediating and moderating mechanisms which may account for how contact influences general attitudes and romantic attitudes. In the wake of the UK vote to leave the European Union, they also serve as an important reminder of how intergroup contact can be effective in promoting peace in Northern Ireland.

The Imagination of the Other in a (Post-)Sectarian Society: Asylum Seekers and Refugees in the Divided City of Belfast

This article explores the ways a salient sectarian community division in Northern Ireland frames the imagination of newcomers and the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees. We examine the dominant ethno-national Christian communities and how their actions define the social-spatial landscape and challenges of manoeuvring everyday life in Northern Ireland as an ‘Other’. We argue all newcomers are impacted to some degree by sectarianism in Northern Ireland, adding a further complexified layer to the everyday and institutional racism so prevalent in different parts of the UK and elsewhere. First, we discuss the triangle of nation, gender and ethnicity in the context of Northern Ireland. We do so in order to problematise that in a society where two adversarial communities exist the ‘Other’ is positioned differently to other more cohesive national societies. This complication impacts how the Other is imagined as the persistence of binary communities shapes the way local civil society engages vulnerable newcomers, e.g. in the instance of our research, asylum seekers and refugees. This is followed by an examination of the situation of asylum seekers and refugees in Northern Ireland. We do so by contextualising the historical situation of newcomers and the socio-spatial landscape of the city of Belfast. In tandem with this, we discuss the role of NGO’s and civil support organisations in Belfast and contrast these views with the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees. This article is based on original empirical material from a study conducted in 2016 on the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees with living in Northern Ireland.

Networks of (Dis)connection: Mobility Practices, Tertiary Streets, and Sectarian Divisions in North Belfast

Long-standing tensions between Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland have led to high levels of segregation. This article explores the spaces within which residents of north Belfast move within everyday life and the extent to which these are influenced by segregation. We focus in particular on the role that interconnecting tertiary streets have on patterns of mobility. We adapt Grannis’s (1998) concept to define T-communities from sets of interconnecting tertiary streets within north Belfast. These are combined with more than 6,000 Global Positioning System (GPS) tracks collected from local residents to assess the amount of time spent within different spaces. Spaces are divided into areas of residents’ own community affiliations (in-group), areas not clearly associated with either community (mixed), or areas of opposing community affiliation (out-group). We further differentiate space as being either within a T-community or along a section of main road. Our work extends research on T-communities by expanding their role beyond exploring residential preference, to explore, instead, networks of (dis)connection through which social divisions are expressed via everyday mobility practices. We conclude that residents are significantly less likely to move within mixed and out-group areas and that this is especially true within T-communities. It is also evident that residents are more likely to travel along out-group sections of a main road if they are in a vehicle and that women show no greater likelihood than men to move within out-group space. Evidence from GPS tracks also provides insights into some areas where mixing appears to occur. Key Words: GIS, Northern Ireland, postconflict, segregation, T-communities.

Lebanon’s Power-Sharing System and the Rise of Sectarianism

Power-sharing settlements intended to prevent recurring conflicts in divided societies have produced mixed outcomes. For decades, Lebanon’s power-sharing political system has been blamed for political instability, sectarian division, recurring conflicts, and foreign intervention. Lebanon today is an example of a confessional divided state where growing sectarian identity has triggered inter-community mistrust. The increasing sectarian division and conflicts since Lebanon gained its independence from France in 1943 has been attributed to the power-sharing political system.This essay, however, demonstrates that the root of the conflicts is the manipulation of that system by the political elites, by virtue of their strategic positions in the government, and political sectarian organizations and movements are capable of influencing political processes considerably. Through manipulative schemes of the power-sharing system, political elites were successful in transferring the power from the state to the religious sects and their political representatives, and thus reinforced sectarian division, weakened the state, and delayed the transition to full democracy. This essay takes Lebanon as a case study to show that although a power-sharing agreement has the power to reduce the risk of recurring conflicts, it has the tendency to reinforce sectarian division leading to deterioration of national unity.

‘If I Speak, They Will Kill Me, to Remain Silent Is to Die’: Poetry of resistance in General Zia's Pakistan (1977–88)

AbstractThe ethnic and sectarian divisions that were part of General Zia's (1977–88) political strategies in Pakistan were resisted not only through street protest and political opposition, but also in the realm of culture. In particular, poetry was a vehicle through which to express discontent as well as to mobilize the population. By offering an analysis of a number of poems and the biographies of the political poets who wrote them, this article offers another perspective on the question of resistance in this period of Pakistan's history. Whilst the outcome of the policy of ethnic division was to divide the struggle against General Zia into a broad anti-Punjab front, this article highlights how it was class division and the securing of elite consent that were the major achievements of the Zia regime. In contrast to previous research, we highlight how resistance came from all groups in Pakistan as reflected in the poetry and literature of the time.

A két világháború közti libanoni rendszer természetrajza

The reconfiguration of the Middle East after the First World War can be regarded as the first wave of Europeanization in the Middle East. The centuries-long imperial order that defined the region and originated from local factors were replaced by a European-type modern state system, in which mandate powers such as France and Great Britain established Western institutions with their secular ideology, administrative basis, and understanding of sovereignty. It was evident from the beginning, that the arbitrarily designated borders broke many wellestablished local compromises and subverted the delicate balance between different sects, religions, language groups, and nations. The case of Lebanon – as the most complex area concerning the ethnic and sectarian divisions – illustrates the fact that implementing a European style nationstate into a Middle Eastern environment met with resistance and these set of internal contradictions have been exerting influence on the political situation of the region ever since. Although the mandate system of the interwar period broke up and Lebanon gained independence after the Second World War, the original demands by local movements (e.g. establishing a Greater Syria) was not possible owing to the firm establishment of new borders after 1918. In practice, this meant that independence was materialized in a framework defined by France and Great Britain and this condition considerably limited the space of action both on the political and the social level.

المعضلة الأمنية في عراق ما بعد 2003

Today, Iraq is facing serious threats on different sectors and levels. On the basis of a number of theories within the field of political science, this research attempts to explain and analyze these threats and their eventual developments. Most important of these theories is the ‘Theory of Security Complex’ developed by Copenhagen School in Security Studies. Copenhagen School adopts a wide approach of security based on the fact that many objects, beside political regimes and states, can be threatened and these threats can lead to destabilizing the entire country or region. These objects could be economic, societal or environmental. Unlike the realist school in international relations, Copenhagen School adds a third level of analysis to the two levels (unit and system) which dominated the realists’ analysis under the Cold War. That is, according to Copenhagen School, the world can be divided into many regions and each of these regions differs from the others regarding the distribution of power and wealth, and then has its own security dilemma. The regional security dilemma could be defined as a set of units (be they states or other political entities) interplaying with one another in such a manner that the security of each of them cannot be understood or analyzed apart from the security of the others. Power distribution and the patterns of amity/enmity are the main responsible variables for the dynamic of the regional security complex. Taking into account the various threats, Iraq faces today, and the high number of domestic, regional and global actors who influence its security, Copenhagen School provides a useful theoretical framework for analyzing these threats. The research concludes that Iraq is seriously threatened politically, military, economically, societally and environmentally, and these threats are caused by actors operating on domestic, regional and global levels. It is assumed that the ethnic and sectarian divisions inside the Iraqi society and the many bloody conflicts which have taken place among its ethnic groups proved that any Islamic regime cannot provide security and stability for Iraq. A secular regime is the best option for ruling the country. The real democracy which based on a parliamentary majority, not a compatible one based on power-sharing principle, is required for Iraq to resolve its conflicts.

MAIN IMPACTS ON THE SYRIA’S CRISIS

The historical background that have influenced the Syria’s crisis is described, geographical position and demographic composition that makes Syria a convenient base for opposition forces, political contacts between France, Great Britain and Russia considering the situation in Syria are characterized. The attention is focused on the prerequisits that have lead to the crisis in Syria including both inner and external factors.
 In the article is mentioned two unsolved territorial disputes: the Shebaa Farms and Hatay region. Another issue, that makes Syria more diverse is Kurdish question. Colonial powers divided Middle East by not existing boarders. It has led Egypt and Syria to unite and establish the United Arab Republic. One more important question is coup d’état, which was led by representatives of the military elite Salah Jadid, Hafez al-Assad, Salim Hatum, Mustafa Tlas.
 The author mentioned that the civil war in Syria is mistakenly concidered to be a religious conflict. The origins of the Syrian vulnerability derive not from the sectarian divisions. In fact the deterioration of situation in Syria hugely depended on social and economic factors.
 Another important issue discussed in the article is that Bashar’s rulling led to the so-called Damascus Spring, which represented the most important civil society mobilization preceding the 2011 uprising.

The Shia armed groups and the future of Iraq

Abstract The rising and acceleration of the Shia armed group in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon require a deep understanding of the root of the multi-dimensional conflicts in the Middle East. An appropriate and sufficient approach to the research about these militias would be from a viewpoint of an internal conflict rather than an external conflict. The legitimization of the existence of the majority of these militias, if not all of them, is the fight and the struggle against an entity which is the Sunni sect, that would assimilate them rather than integrating them peacefully. In this article, we try to identify the impact of the Shia militias in Iraq on the formation of the future of this country. We maintain that these armed groups will be a destabilizing factor for Iraq and its neighbors, and they will worsen and deepen the sectarian division in the Middle East. We assess these different groups from different perspectives, for example, using the Weberian theory that the state is the only entity that has a monopoly of violence; Ariel Ahram’s model of state-sponsored and government-sponsored militias; and finally the devolution of violence to these armed groups.

The Shia armed groups and the future of Iraq

<i>In this article, we try to identify the impact of the Shia militias in Iraq on the future of this country. We maintain that these armed groups will be a destabilising factor for Iraq and its neighbours, and they will worsen and deepen the sectarian division in the Middle East. We assess these different groups from different perspectives, for example, using the Weberian theory that the state is the only entity that has a monopoly of violence, Ariel Ahram’s model of state-sponsored and government-sponsored militias, and finally the devolution of violence to these armed groups.</i>

Conflict and Realignment in the Middle East

While religious or sectarian divisions in the Middle East do exist, as explanations for regional geopolitics they are mostly misleading.

Politics as Usual? Theatre, the Northern Irish Assembly, and the Romanticization of Normality

This article explores the treatment of Northern Irish electoral politics in two plays featuring Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) as major characters. Between 2007 and 2016, many viewed the stability of the Northern Irish Assembly as evidence of the continued success of the peace process. Although the principle of mandatory coalition at the system’s heart bears witness to the lasting nature of divisions within the state, the collaboration between once-bitter enemies demonstrates a real shift in Northern Irish politics. Until the institution’s (perhaps temporary) collapse in 2017, many commentators and politicians suggested that its success proved that the state was progressing in the nebulous but desirable direction of ‘normality’. Colin Bell’s God’s Country (2010) and Rosemary Jenkinson’s Planet Belfast (2013) suggest, however, that a valorization of normality obscures the dangers posed to Northern Ireland by problems that occur on more global levels. God’s Country explores the dangerous impact of homophobia in the North, and particularly within unionist politics, while Planet Belfast depicts the combined threat of environmental destruction and corporate interference. Both plays depict Northern Irish politics functioning smoothly, with minimal evidence of sectarian divisions deeper than the partisanship present in most democracies. In spite of this, however, they caution against treating normality as an end goal or as evidence that the state is safe. Instead, they suggest that the state faces a wide array of problems that have been obscured by the focus on sectarianism and the legacy of the Troubles.

Post-crash fiction and the aesthetics of austerity in Kevin Barry’s City of Bohane

ABSTRACTSince 2008, the phrase “age of austerity” has become commonplace in political, economic, and sociocultural discourse across Europe and the globe. This article contributes to interdisciplinary studies of austerity, a political and material phenomenon, from a literary studies perspective. The essay proposes Irish writer Kevin Barry’s acclaimed 2011 novel City of Bohane as an exemplar of “post-crash fiction,” as the text develops a trenchant critique of the age of austerity via its literary aesthetics. Foregoing realism in favor of speculative fiction, City of Bohane presents a foreboding view of what contemporary Ireland might look like 40 years in the future. The article examines Barry’s use of allegory and ekphrasis, demonstrating how these techniques develop an “aesthetics of austerity” that impels readers to view austerity not merely as a response to fiscal crisis, but rather as a humanitarian issue with deep roots in the historical operations of colonialism and sectarian division.

Education to Reduce Recurring Conflicts

Recurring conflicts have recently become a common trend in countries dominated by sectarian divisions. According to a World Development Report, “Of the 103 countries that experienced some form of c...

After the Arab Spring: Democratic Aspirations and State Failure

The popular protests that erupted in 2010 and quickly remade the political map of the Arab world surprised almost everybody. We all knew the terrible state of Arab governance, marked as it was by rents, repression and regression, still no-one predicted that the people would ever rise. For decades, the Arabs had looked like an exception to global trends towards greater participation and accountability in public life, towards more sensible economic policies and more permissive social mores. Arab societies appeared exceptional hostile to the ideals of democracy, and modernity more generally. There was a curious absence of politics, because their states were invariably authoritarian and offered no legitimate, peaceful channels for the formulation of competing interests. Repressive, inefficient and often deranged leaders ruled over unproductive, unimaginative but strongly growing societies. The so-called Arab Spring appeared to end these decades of exceptionalism and bring the Arab world back into the mainstream of global developments. The rebellions promised the return of politics and the reassertion of popular sovereignty against their corrupt and geriatric leaders. Much hope and flowery language greeted the young men and women who deposed their leaders and tried to build new, better societies. Today, the Arab world is in deep crisis. Of the 22 member states of the Arab League, at least five have essentially collapsed: Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Syria exist only in name today, as their territories have fallen to competing, murderous armed groups. In the remaining countries, the old autocracies have reasserted themselves. The repression at home is now worsened by regional conflict on an unprecedented scale, and the resulting frustration has led to the biggest refugee flows in recent memory. What went wrong? This short course offers an overview of the structural shortcomings of Arab states and societies, which help us understand why the democratic awakening did not happen but instead “has given way to civil wars, ethnic, sectarian and regional divisions and the reassertion of absolutism.” This raises the obvious and renewed question whether there is something inherent in the Arab, and by analogy Muslim, condition that makes them special. Does this condition makes this part of the world impervious to generally observable trends towards greater accountability, popular participation in political decision-making, greater generation and fairer division of economic wealth?

FEDERALISM IN IRAQ: ASSESSMENT

Since 2003, there is a debate about dividing Iraq into three states or regions in accordance with its ethnicity and religious sects. There are groups supporting unity of Iraq to keep it a united country and to continue the process of rebuilding a new Iraq, a process that started after the First World War. Still, there are those who think Iraq is a failure state and the solution is to divide it into three entities to calm down ethnic and sectarian division. In this paper, I will examine the two main points of view and assess them to see which solution will suit better Iraq, or which solution is the least harmful, in order to keep peace and stability in this war-torn country. At issue will be centralism in Iraq and its evolution to federalism. I will see if confederation is another solution to the problem. In addition, the paper will look at the struggle of the Kurdish people for their national rights and will assess splitting Iraq into two states as a valuable solution. Finally, I will conclude my paper by evaluating the issue of dividing Iraq and hopefully providing possible solutions. Keywords: The Middle East Iraq Federalism Minority Rights the Kurds

Seno'o Girō's Buddhist Socialism, Antiwar Movement, and Dialogue with Social Christianity in 1930s–1940s Japan

Seno'o Girō's Buddhist Socialism, Antiwar Movement, and Dialogue with Social Christianity in 1930s–1940s Japan Kunihiko Terasawa Seno'oGirō (1889–1961) founded The Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism (YLRB) on April 15, 1931. Seno'o Girō was an important Buddhist figure in prewar Japan as one of a few Buddhists who organized resistance movements against ultra-nationalistic war ideology and militarism. Seno'o not only worked among Buddhists, but also allied with non-Buddhists, such as labor unions, socialists, Christians, and Marxists unifying the Popular Front during the 1930s. Many young Buddhists came to join the YLRB, bridging sectarian divisions, even though Seno'o was a lay priest of Nichiren Buddhism. The YLRB was the declaration of a social Buddhism. The motto of the YLRB was "To Bear the Buddha into the Streets and Villages." Seno'o was the chairperson of the YLRB. They proclaimed: 1. We have to return to Buddha, Sakyamuni himself beyond denomination. 2. We have to reform Buddhism that is now like a dead corpse, which is too stagnant, superstitious, and corrupt to fit the new age. 3. We have to fight against the exploitation by capitalism, and to create a new society.1 The YLRB's membership was three thousand people at its peak in 1936. The members were involved in peasant disputes as well as labor disputes. There have been significant research articles on Seno'oGirō by Whalen Lai (1984), Stephen Large (1987), James Mark Shields (2012), and Eiichi Ōtani (2012).2 Lai's research is focused on Seno'o's prophetic voice based on his modern social hermeneutics of the Lotus Sutra. Large's article is an excellent historical analysis on Seno'o's political activities of the popular front, especially his affiliation with Shakai-Taishū-tō (Social Mass Party) according to Seno'o's own understanding of Buddhism and Marxism. Shields is focused on Seno'o's radical revolutionary ethos in comparison to the Marxist atheistic humanism and Derrida's deconstructionism. Shields points out that atheistic deconstructionism is compatible with the Buddhist notion of sunyata (emptiness) and interdependent co-arising resulting in the Seno'o's genuine humanism which considered the people's sufferings. Ōtani summarizes well in his sociological analysis [End Page 223] on how Seno'o's Buddhist social movement arose in the context of the rise of ultra-nationalistic Nihon Seishin (The Spirit of Japaneseness), Marxism, and the conflict within Buddhist groups to either support Nihon Seishin or counter it.3 These previous articles mention his hermeneutical circle among Buddhism, socialism, and Marxism. Though this is an important perspective, I would rather analyze Seno'o's thought and activities in the light of his constant dialogue with Social Christianity. seno'o girō's life and thought Seno'oGirō was born in the Hiroshima prefecture on December 16, 1889. In June 1908, he enrolled in the best junior college in Japan, Ikkō (一高; the first junior college in Tokyo, from which most students, then, enrolled in the Tokyo Imperial University). Nitobe Inazō 新渡戸稲造 (1862–1933), the principal of Ikkō, was a Quaker and the author of Bushidō, and later became the undersecretary general of the League of Nations in 1920. Nitobe was also a friend of Uchimura Kanzō 内村鑑三, who founded Mukyōkai 無教会 (Non-Church Movement). Both Nitobe and Uchiruma studied together and became Christians at Sapporo Nōgakkō 札幌農学校 (the Sapporo Agricultural School), guided by its principal, William Clark. Seno'o described in his diary during Ikkō that Nitobe became his ideal model, and that he was thinking of Nitobe every day, taking Nitobe's ethics class, and frequently meeting with Nitobe personally.4 Nitobe's knowledge and personality significantly influenced Seno'oin his humanism, internationalism, educational leadership, and, later, social activities. It should not be forgotten that Nitobe was a Quaker, a religious belief well known for its pacifism, inclusivity, and meditative practices. Even before Seno'o went to Ikkō, his middle school principal, Yanai Michitami 柳井道民, influenced him in 1903. Yanai had also studied at the Sapporo Agricultural School, where Nitobe and Uchimura learned of Christianity.5 It is important to remember that Seno'o's encounter with independent and non-sectarian Christian humanists shaped his youth consciousness, even though...

Local government dissolution in Karachi: chasm or catalyst?

Karachi’s history has left a city riven by tribal, ethnic and sectarian divisions, which exhibits dimensions of fragility typical of ‘post-conflict’ cities. Pakistan has faced many challenges in establishing transparent government, and local government dissolution in 2009 led to a rapid increase in informal service provision, ghettoisation of low-income settlements, as sectarian violence left large parts of the city ungovernable. Through a case study of North Nazimabad, this paper explores the ensuing chasm and governance mechanisms that filled the gap, examining what happens when local government fails, and how groups and communities contest political, social and physical space.